Stone 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout

Formerly brewed at Stone Brewing Co.
Style: Imperial Stout
Escondido, California USA

Real dark out of the bottle. The sourness surprises me, waves of milk chocolate, a line between bitter and sour, the alcohol. That chocolate-alcohol aroma of kahlua, implying coffee as well, bottom roast. The foam is a beautiful color but quick. Very clean finish.

Quite black w/ dark brown head. Aroma is unimpressive and very light; strawberry; very little indication of chocolate or roasted malts. Palate is very very smooth, with a little carbonation/alcohol kick in the finish. Flavor is a little more like one would expect but still odd. The oatmeal makes it weird. Definite light fruitiness-more strawberries going along with the alcohol in a not so pleasing fashion. It finishes about how one would expect though with a lot of rich dark chocolate and a good moderately dry bitterness. Probably would be better, but less intriguing without the oatmeal. Could be good with some age on it as well.

Oily black pour with nice tan head. The head dies quickly, but leaves some nice lacing. The aroma is boozy, with some chocolate, dark fruits and burnt malts. The flavor is kind of bizarre. First bitter burnt malt, then a strange cherry/plum fruit flavor, then the chocolate hits making for an excellent bitter finish. The palate is the standout aspect of this beer. Awesome, thick, chewy. Almost like drinking a bowl of oatmeal prepared with an imperial stout instead of water. Interesting, complex, but a little disappointing. The palate alone however makes this beer worth the price of admission.

Pours nice and thick with a quickly dissipating tan head. Aroma is certainly chocolate that I would go ahead and call burnt chocolate if that actually means anything. And not much else, but it is quite nice. Flavor is really weird and interesting. I’m not sure what’s going on. It’s like the oatmeal cures the bitterness of the chocolate because there certainly is the smoothness I associate with an oatmeal stout going on, and it consequently just goes down really smooth. I enjoy it. The palate is nice and full bodied. It’s definitely interesting to say the least.

Pours 6,000 mile plus used motor oil black (always a good sign) and tastes of bitter chocolate with grainy oatmeal texture. No overbearing bitter-/ burntness (which is a good thing). Full mouthfeel, great flavor, amazing dark tan head on a truly opaque black beer. Stone always raises and then blasts through my expectations. A-plus beer.

Pours black as your soul with a thin dark brown head. Aroma is burned roast malt and chocolate. Flavor is pretty robust, but a little one dimensional. There’s a hint of chocolate but a lot of burnt chocolate chip cookies action going on there too. However, it’s surprisingly low key from what I was expecting from a Stone stout. Good beer though.

Bottle: pours dark black with a tan head that quickly disappears, a little bit of the chocolate in the aroma but I’m not picking up much else, taste is malty, bitter chocolate, fairly full bodied. Solid but nothing special.

Poured a rich black, bringing to mind liquid dark chocolate as she fills my glass and a soft tan head graces her top. The head quickly faded into a small ring around my glass, making way for an interesting nose mingling with caramel espresso notes, a hint of tobacco, and almost burnt dark chocolate notes. her body is thick, but not overly so, with an immediate bitter dark chocolate profile stepping up to the plate, followed by her pinch-hitters, woodsy notes, bitter espresso, soft chewy notes of toasted oatmeal and a dry finish. A warming sensation pleasantly lingers in my throat and upper chest area, giving away her ABV of just a little over 9%. A bit of a chewy mouthfeel as she warms which smacks of delicious toasted oat, though rich dark bitter chocolate and espresso rules her palate.
For an imperial stout, Stone’s 12th Anniversary Bitter Chocolate Oatmeal Stout lives up to most of her name, though I didn’t detect as much oatmeal as I probably would in a standard oatmeal stout. This isn’t a detriment though, as part of her purpose is to bring the imperial to the oatmeal and create a delectable marriage of the two which she accomplishes with aplomb.